We Are Hofstra PR is a student blog designed to encourage students to communicate and share ideas and learning experiences pertaining to the field of public relations.

Sunday, May 15, 2011

American Express Social Media

American Express uses many social media outlets to connect with members and fans. Since they have too many to mention, I'm only going to discuss a select few. AMEX has a blog called OPEN forum which is an online community designed to help grow members business'. Topics of discussion include: innovation, lifestyle, marketing, technology and money. The articles are useful tools for business leaders.

On March 18th, AMEX integrated a Facebook tab into their AMEX rewards interface and encouraged members to share their most memorable thing they've spent their points on. This, to me, was brilliant!!In my opinion, you have two types of shoppers; you have the practical consumer (one who shops based on needs) and an emotional consumer (one who goes on emotionally driven shopping trips). This afforded consumers the opportunity to share their experiences with other emotionally driven shoppers. It gave them a reason to discuss their connection with the purchased item and as a result purchase more with points so they can further discuss the topic.

Lastly, AMEX had a sweepstake for travelers. The card members had to write about their favorite trip moment, describe the trip, and share images. The winner received $10,000 towards their dream trip. As a result, they had 500 entries and 28,300 likes.